Hello everyone,
Here are new pictures of the wonderful Autumn leaves (紅葉 - Kouyou) in Japan. The first pictures are taken from Sanda-shi, north of Kobe and where Claudio, another Swiss doing an internship in Japan, lives. The landscapes are wonderful and we could enjoy a typical small restaurant inside the mountains of Sanda with the Kouyou! In the Sanda region there are also tea bushes which gives some very authentic point of views.
Then the second part of the pictures are from Kyoto Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺 - Pure Water) by night during the Kouyou light ups. It was pretty crowded specially to go to the temple but hopefully we could go through and enjoy the beautiful power of Nature!
Enjoy...
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Wonderful Autumn in Japan!
These two last weekend have been very exciting as I visited new places! First, as my brother suggested me: Naoshima. A small island located in Kagawa-ken and which is know for its contemporary art museum and sites like the Chichu Art Museum and the Benesse House project designed by Tadao Ando.
It took around 2 hours by car to get there with a small ferry boat and we could enjoy most of the main attraction of the island before the sunset... Naoshima is very small and can be visited in a day by car, bike, bicycle or bus. I've made a small selection of pictures like the Chichu Art Museum with the gorgeous view. Some cool animals :P and a Temple with the stairs being built in glass... Enjoy...
Secondly (this last weekend) as my friend Ryoko was coming to visit me in Osaka, we decided to go to Kyoto and enjoy the Autumn Leaves 紅葉 "Kouyou" with its beautiful colors! We first headed to the Fushimi Inari temple, south-east of Kyoto Station. Fushimi Inari is dedicated to the God of Rice (Inari) and the merchants used to build up a sub-shrine for its business wealth. Fushimi Inari is said to have more than 30'000 sub-shrines! It is very impressive as you walk under those shrines with the names of the people who built it. As you can up the hill it never ends...! Finally we could enjoy a small Matsuri on top of it.
To end up our journey we headed to Takao, north-west of Kyoto near Arashiyama (Over-crowded during the Autumn Leaves). There we could enjoy the beautiful colors of Autumn. It is completely unrealistic and it feels like you are walking in a painting... And by night there was a small Koto concert inside the forest. I will post a small video of it soon.
Anyway here are the pictures!
It took around 2 hours by car to get there with a small ferry boat and we could enjoy most of the main attraction of the island before the sunset... Naoshima is very small and can be visited in a day by car, bike, bicycle or bus. I've made a small selection of pictures like the Chichu Art Museum with the gorgeous view. Some cool animals :P and a Temple with the stairs being built in glass... Enjoy...
Secondly (this last weekend) as my friend Ryoko was coming to visit me in Osaka, we decided to go to Kyoto and enjoy the Autumn Leaves 紅葉 "Kouyou" with its beautiful colors! We first headed to the Fushimi Inari temple, south-east of Kyoto Station. Fushimi Inari is dedicated to the God of Rice (Inari) and the merchants used to build up a sub-shrine for its business wealth. Fushimi Inari is said to have more than 30'000 sub-shrines! It is very impressive as you walk under those shrines with the names of the people who built it. As you can up the hill it never ends...! Finally we could enjoy a small Matsuri on top of it.
To end up our journey we headed to Takao, north-west of Kyoto near Arashiyama (Over-crowded during the Autumn Leaves). There we could enjoy the beautiful colors of Autumn. It is completely unrealistic and it feels like you are walking in a painting... And by night there was a small Koto concert inside the forest. I will post a small video of it soon.
Anyway here are the pictures!
Monday, November 1, 2010
New pictures of Nara & Kobe
Here are some pictures I took when visiting Nara & Kobe.
A big thank you to Carlo, Stefano, Benjamin & Carlo's cousin for visiting me in Japan. We had a great time all together even if I couldn't be there all the time ;)
A big thank you to Carlo, Stefano, Benjamin & Carlo's cousin for visiting me in Japan. We had a great time all together even if I couldn't be there all the time ;)
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Cloudy Halloween, new pictures...
Hello everyone...
Lot of things happened in my life these days and I am moving forward with it... Begin here alone is sometimes very hard because even I can easily communicate with Japanese now, expressing feelings and deep point of views are a difficult task in a language such as Japanese. I want to thank my family and friends for being there helping me even if we are distant from 10000km.
This whole Japanese trip is my cure and will make me stronger for a future life. I am starting to know myself and I am finally making my choices myself. It is a big shock but I have to go through it... Anyway I am feeling better now and I am enjoying my every day life without thinking about past and future...
Concerning more funny stuff, this friday I went to a Halloween party in a darts bar downtown Osaka with friends. I enjoyed it a lot even if I am still tired of partying until 6am! :P
Yesterday was a much relaxing night as we went to Nara to enjoy a nice Dinner in an "italian" style food cafe-restaurant called "Ciao". We ended the night shopping in "Donkey Hot" until 1am :D This country is crazy!
I am posting past pictures of Kanazawa's biggest festival : Hyakumangoku Festival (It commemorates the entry of the lord, Maeda Toshiie, into Kanazawa castle in 1583.) As it was help in June, I went back to Kanazawa with Claudio for the weekend to enjoy a nice Festival and meeting my host family again ;)
Lot of things happened in my life these days and I am moving forward with it... Begin here alone is sometimes very hard because even I can easily communicate with Japanese now, expressing feelings and deep point of views are a difficult task in a language such as Japanese. I want to thank my family and friends for being there helping me even if we are distant from 10000km.
This whole Japanese trip is my cure and will make me stronger for a future life. I am starting to know myself and I am finally making my choices myself. It is a big shock but I have to go through it... Anyway I am feeling better now and I am enjoying my every day life without thinking about past and future...
Concerning more funny stuff, this friday I went to a Halloween party in a darts bar downtown Osaka with friends. I enjoyed it a lot even if I am still tired of partying until 6am! :P
Yesterday was a much relaxing night as we went to Nara to enjoy a nice Dinner in an "italian" style food cafe-restaurant called "Ciao". We ended the night shopping in "Donkey Hot" until 1am :D This country is crazy!
I am posting past pictures of Kanazawa's biggest festival : Hyakumangoku Festival (It commemorates the entry of the lord, Maeda Toshiie, into Kanazawa castle in 1583.) As it was help in June, I went back to Kanazawa with Claudio for the weekend to enjoy a nice Festival and meeting my host family again ;)
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Parents visiting Japan Part 6 (End) & Ikebana class
Here are the final pictures of my parents visiting me in Japan this summer!
There are also pictures of our last activity class: Ikebana. I enjoyed it a lot but it was pretty difficult with all these creational rules (Japanese style...) Imagination is the key of creation but in Ikebana (at least our class), the idea is the recreate the professor idea with your own touch. There is no real creation, sadly...
Anyway the result was good, I think ;)
The beach pictures are taken from the beach highway, north of Kanazawa where I already took pictures when we went to the Noto Peninsula's trip.
Here ends my Kanazawa's stay. I will always remember it with my great homestay family! I discovered so many new things, culture, places, people etc... Whenever I have some free time, I always go back to Kanazawa, my Japanese hometown :D
There are also pictures of our last activity class: Ikebana. I enjoyed it a lot but it was pretty difficult with all these creational rules (Japanese style...) Imagination is the key of creation but in Ikebana (at least our class), the idea is the recreate the professor idea with your own touch. There is no real creation, sadly...
Anyway the result was good, I think ;)
The beach pictures are taken from the beach highway, north of Kanazawa where I already took pictures when we went to the Noto Peninsula's trip.
Here ends my Kanazawa's stay. I will always remember it with my great homestay family! I discovered so many new things, culture, places, people etc... Whenever I have some free time, I always go back to Kanazawa, my Japanese hometown :D
Back in Japan!
I am back in Japan after ten days in Switzerland. I enjoyed my trip back in Switzerland, seeing my family & friends that I missed a lot and that I already miss here in Osaka.
The diploma's ceremony was very cool and I enjoyed the pre-parties, parties and after-parties a lot! I am currently sorting the pictures of the ceremony and I will post a small selection on my flickr account and here. And this day was a special day because Dany also received his diploma's for its Architecture studies at EPFL!
I also went to Zurich to visit my aunt and Gokhi! The weather in Switzerland wasn't that bad as everyone told me but it was sooooo cold, comparing to my arrival this morning in Osaka. Today it was sunny and 25 degrees. I could rest a few hours during the flight so I wasn't completely broken arriving in Osaka this morning. I rested for two hours and then when to pay some phone and highway tolls bills so I could use my phone back here ;)
Then I went to the Batting Cage to break some baseballs!
Here are some pictures of the diploma's ceremony!
And the two EPFL official pictures albums:
Magistrale 2010
Remise des diplômes - Electricité 2010
The diploma's ceremony was very cool and I enjoyed the pre-parties, parties and after-parties a lot! I am currently sorting the pictures of the ceremony and I will post a small selection on my flickr account and here. And this day was a special day because Dany also received his diploma's for its Architecture studies at EPFL!
I also went to Zurich to visit my aunt and Gokhi! The weather in Switzerland wasn't that bad as everyone told me but it was sooooo cold, comparing to my arrival this morning in Osaka. Today it was sunny and 25 degrees. I could rest a few hours during the flight so I wasn't completely broken arriving in Osaka this morning. I rested for two hours and then when to pay some phone and highway tolls bills so I could use my phone back here ;)
Then I went to the Batting Cage to break some baseballs!
Here are some pictures of the diploma's ceremony!
And the two EPFL official pictures albums:
Magistrale 2010
Remise des diplômes - Electricité 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Problems with Flickr & new Blog Template
Hey everyone, sorry for the pictures problem, I finally understood what made this.
I can continue my pictures blog ;)
I've also decided to change my blog template... Hope you like it ;)
Enjoy!
I can continue my pictures blog ;)
I've also decided to change my blog template... Hope you like it ;)
Enjoy!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Parents visiting Japan Part 3 and 4, Kanazawa & Kyoto!
Yeah finally some pictures updates! My parents visiting me in Japan
First the third set of pictures : Kanazawa
We had a pretty good time in Kanazawa even in the weather was not perfect. The places weren't crowded and as I had my Japanese classes we were meeting on every afternoon on weekdays to visit different places such as the Kenrokuen, Higashiyama (Geisha District) and Utatsuyama.
Fourth set : Kyoto
Tomorrow I will try to upload another set of pictures from our Kyoto trip with comments. There are so many pictures there...
See you soon
Aris
First the third set of pictures : Kanazawa
We had a pretty good time in Kanazawa even in the weather was not perfect. The places weren't crowded and as I had my Japanese classes we were meeting on every afternoon on weekdays to visit different places such as the Kenrokuen, Higashiyama (Geisha District) and Utatsuyama.
Fourth set : Kyoto
Tomorrow I will try to upload another set of pictures from our Kyoto trip with comments. There are so many pictures there...
See you soon
Aris
... tired! But here are the pictures!
Hey everyone,
Long time no see! The last message was when Dany left Japan for his HUGE trip to Singapore and Australia. He will be back this week in Japan before going back to Switzerland.
I have been pretty busy at work and couldn't take the time for my pictures and writing any message on the blog, sorry for that.
Long time no see! The last message was when Dany left Japan for his HUGE trip to Singapore and Australia. He will be back this week in Japan before going back to Switzerland.
I have been pretty busy at work and couldn't take the time for my pictures and writing any message on the blog, sorry for that.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Back to real life > WORK... :(
The holidays are over! Back to work! After ten days of road triping in Japan, this morning has been very hard... Waking up at 6am and taking the train to go to work. :( Anyway here is a short message about our crazy road trip in the south west of Japan!
We travelled around 1500 km with the car from Kyushu (Osaka Ferry boat > Miyazaki) to Wakayama beach yesterday. We went to Miyazaki, Kagoshima, Sakurajima, Ibusuki, Kumamoto, Aso-san, Beppu, Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Miyajima Island, Osaka and Wakayama!
We discovered so many beautiful landscapes in Kyushu! The nature is wonderful over there. We enjoyed surfing in Wakayama, taking a Sand-bath Onsen in Ibusuki, driving next to the still active Sakurajima Volcano, breathing the fresh air of Mount Aso, visiting Onsens in Beppu, Baseball in Fukuoka, the Peace Museum and dome of Hiroshima, the deers on Miyajima Island, Osaka's shopping and Wakayama's beaches!
My brother Dany is still in Japan for a few days so I hope we can enjoy some more crazy stuffs together. This weekend we will go to Kanazawa to meet my Japanese host family and enjoy a good dinner.
I will post the pictures of our road trip after posting the picture's of Maude's visiting me in June... I have like 3000 pictures to sort before uploading. So it won't be before next week, sorry!
See you soon
We travelled around 1500 km with the car from Kyushu (Osaka Ferry boat > Miyazaki) to Wakayama beach yesterday. We went to Miyazaki, Kagoshima, Sakurajima, Ibusuki, Kumamoto, Aso-san, Beppu, Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Miyajima Island, Osaka and Wakayama!
We discovered so many beautiful landscapes in Kyushu! The nature is wonderful over there. We enjoyed surfing in Wakayama, taking a Sand-bath Onsen in Ibusuki, driving next to the still active Sakurajima Volcano, breathing the fresh air of Mount Aso, visiting Onsens in Beppu, Baseball in Fukuoka, the Peace Museum and dome of Hiroshima, the deers on Miyajima Island, Osaka's shopping and Wakayama's beaches!
My brother Dany is still in Japan for a few days so I hope we can enjoy some more crazy stuffs together. This weekend we will go to Kanazawa to meet my Japanese host family and enjoy a good dinner.
I will post the pictures of our road trip after posting the picture's of Maude's visiting me in June... I have like 3000 pictures to sort before uploading. So it won't be before next week, sorry!
See you soon
Friday, August 6, 2010
Brother is here and Holidays are beginning soon! Yeah!
Hey everyone! Brother just arrived yesterday in Japan and he is actually sleeping as I am at work since 8am... :D It is sooooo cool that Dany is here with me for my 10 days off summer holidays. I wished my sister, Anais could make it but next time! She will come and we will have lot of fun here together too!
Anyway today is friday and I will be leaving job at around 3pm to take the train and head to the Ferry Terminal of Osaka. Yes we are going with the boat! And we take the car with so we can enjoy Kyushu! Kyushu is pretty hard to visit by public transportation and because of that many people suggest renting a car because of its beautiful view spots in the volcanos mountains. We will arrive tomorrow morning (As the boat take around 12 hours to go there) and we will enjoy the beaches & sun of Miyazaki City. We want to do some surfing but we have to check again on the boat the hot spots and places where we can rent some material. I also found a Wakeboarding spot in Miyazaki and maybe we'll head for that as it costs only 3000Yen for 30min (35CHF, in Swiss it's around 100CHF!).
Then we will visit the Kyushu island as there are many many things to see and enjoy such as Onsen and Volcanos. I want to see some magma! After visiting Kyushu island for a few days we want to go to Hiroshima and Miyajima Island where I already been in 2004. I really liked it a lot and I couldn't visit all so here is a chance to enjoy again with Dany.
At the end of next week we want to go in Kanazawa to meet my host family. I also want to show Dany where I used to live for 3 months when learning Japanese. I enjoyed it a lot so it's a very important place for me. It's my Japanese Family!
It will be pretty hard to upload pictures in these days as I don't have my computer. We will try do it with the iPad as I received the iPad camera connector kit...
Come back for some crazy news from the boat :D
Anyway today is friday and I will be leaving job at around 3pm to take the train and head to the Ferry Terminal of Osaka. Yes we are going with the boat! And we take the car with so we can enjoy Kyushu! Kyushu is pretty hard to visit by public transportation and because of that many people suggest renting a car because of its beautiful view spots in the volcanos mountains. We will arrive tomorrow morning (As the boat take around 12 hours to go there) and we will enjoy the beaches & sun of Miyazaki City. We want to do some surfing but we have to check again on the boat the hot spots and places where we can rent some material. I also found a Wakeboarding spot in Miyazaki and maybe we'll head for that as it costs only 3000Yen for 30min (35CHF, in Swiss it's around 100CHF!).
Then we will visit the Kyushu island as there are many many things to see and enjoy such as Onsen and Volcanos. I want to see some magma! After visiting Kyushu island for a few days we want to go to Hiroshima and Miyajima Island where I already been in 2004. I really liked it a lot and I couldn't visit all so here is a chance to enjoy again with Dany.
At the end of next week we want to go in Kanazawa to meet my host family. I also want to show Dany where I used to live for 3 months when learning Japanese. I enjoyed it a lot so it's a very important place for me. It's my Japanese Family!
It will be pretty hard to upload pictures in these days as I don't have my computer. We will try do it with the iPad as I received the iPad camera connector kit...
Come back for some crazy news from the boat :D
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Picture Time! Parents visiting me in Japan, Part. 2 (Osaka)
Picture time! Second selection of pictures when my parents came in Japan. This also was in Osaka. Next pictures set are for Kanazawa & Kyoto. Enjoy ;)
Picture Time! Parents visiting me in Japan, Part. 1 (Osaka)
Picture time! Here is a first selection of pictures we took when my parents came visiting me in Japan. This set of pictures have been taken in Osaka... Enjoy ;)
Monday, July 26, 2010
Friends, Kobe & Kick Boxing
Hey everyone! Once again a very hot weekend with a minimum of 35 degrees! Last thursday I had the chance, once again, to have some friends visiting me in Japan. I met them in Osaka Namba where we enjoyed a delicious Okonomiyaki with Beers. On friday we went again in Namba but this time we headed for a Good Izakaya in Dotombori. We ate a lot with some good beers and Sake!
To destroy all these calories we chosed to go in Kobe on Saturday. Kobe is a nice "small" city in the Kansai where the first immigrants came a long time ago as Kobe had the biggest harbour. That is the reason why Kobe is an internationnal city where you can see many western style houses next to Japanese traditionnal things. Anyway there is much to see in Kobe but... You can eat some Kobe Beef! Soooooo delicious! After finishing our delicious fat Kobe beef we went to see the Nunobiki Herb Garden with the Rope Way behind the Shin-Kobe station.
The view was really nice from up there, the herb garden was pretty interesting because of its location with the mountain surrounding it.
Sunday, Fight! Oh yeah first fighting sport class in my life and i love it! It was very intense and interesting. I enjoyed learning the fighting positions and movements but also being able to punch teacher was funny. He is soooooo fast and strong, he could beat me in 2 seconds! LOL i lost 10 liters of water during the session, this was crazy!
Finally in the night I went to Kyoto to see other friends and enjoy a nice meal in Kawaramachi... What a weekend...!
Pictures coming soon......
To destroy all these calories we chosed to go in Kobe on Saturday. Kobe is a nice "small" city in the Kansai where the first immigrants came a long time ago as Kobe had the biggest harbour. That is the reason why Kobe is an internationnal city where you can see many western style houses next to Japanese traditionnal things. Anyway there is much to see in Kobe but... You can eat some Kobe Beef! Soooooo delicious! After finishing our delicious fat Kobe beef we went to see the Nunobiki Herb Garden with the Rope Way behind the Shin-Kobe station.
The view was really nice from up there, the herb garden was pretty interesting because of its location with the mountain surrounding it.
Sunday, Fight! Oh yeah first fighting sport class in my life and i love it! It was very intense and interesting. I enjoyed learning the fighting positions and movements but also being able to punch teacher was funny. He is soooooo fast and strong, he could beat me in 2 seconds! LOL i lost 10 liters of water during the session, this was crazy!
Finally in the night I went to Kyoto to see other friends and enjoy a nice meal in Kawaramachi... What a weekend...!
Pictures coming soon......
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Twitter!
Hey everyone, one new geek plug-in in my life! Twitter...
Is it good or not? I think it's stupid but there are some other much more geek reasons who made me sign up (iPhone jailbreaking stuff)...
Anyway you can follow me up on Twitter with this link: http://twitter.com/kArisMarO
I also added the right Twitter plug-in on my blog so you can easily follow me while reading my blog ;)
See you
Is it good or not? I think it's stupid but there are some other much more geek reasons who made me sign up (iPhone jailbreaking stuff)...
Anyway you can follow me up on Twitter with this link: http://twitter.com/kArisMarO
I also added the right Twitter plug-in on my blog so you can easily follow me while reading my blog ;)
See you
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
PICTURES! Here we are finally!
I finally finished sorting my 6200 pictures taken since my arrival in Japan. I just started making a selection and uploading it to my Flickr account.
I will comment the pictures selections in the coming days so keep in touch ;)
Enjoy!
I will comment the pictures selections in the coming days so keep in touch ;)
Enjoy!
Monday, July 19, 2010
Weekend in Kyoto and Nara!
After this crazy last weekend in Los Angeles I decided to go have some fun in Kyoto and Nara with some friends.
This month is the Gion Matsuri event in Kyoto which is one of the biggest traditionnal event in Japan so this means its one of the most crowded one too! Anyway i could see a small parade and at least enjoy some Kobe BBQ meat and HiroshimaYaki which is soooooo goood! I loved it! Oishiiii!
Nara on sunday was also cool but HOT! At least 35 degrees and sunny. We went to Todaiji where the largest bronze statue of Bouddha is held and it is enormous! OMG! How did the built that! (Actually rebuilt because it has been destroyed and burnt man times before like all japanese places...) it is also the largest wooden building in the world!
Then we went to Heijo-kyo which was the ancient capital of Japan, 1300 years ago. They rebuilt the former Imperial Audience Hall the way they thought it was before. And it is also huge!
I hope I can get my pictures on Flickr tonight! Enjoy!
This month is the Gion Matsuri event in Kyoto which is one of the biggest traditionnal event in Japan so this means its one of the most crowded one too! Anyway i could see a small parade and at least enjoy some Kobe BBQ meat and HiroshimaYaki which is soooooo goood! I loved it! Oishiiii!
Nara on sunday was also cool but HOT! At least 35 degrees and sunny. We went to Todaiji where the largest bronze statue of Bouddha is held and it is enormous! OMG! How did the built that! (Actually rebuilt because it has been destroyed and burnt man times before like all japanese places...) it is also the largest wooden building in the world!
Then we went to Heijo-kyo which was the ancient capital of Japan, 1300 years ago. They rebuilt the former Imperial Audience Hall the way they thought it was before. And it is also huge!
I hope I can get my pictures on Flickr tonight! Enjoy!
Weekend in California! Part 2
Here we go for the second part of the crazy weekend in California!
Saturday: The big day! And yeah it was a Big Long Crazy Day! Starting from 7am for the ladies to get the hair and make up done and 9am for the men. We had to get dressed up for the movie time! I wont reveal the secrets of the upcoming movie, you'll have to see it to believe it! :D anyway we did shoot some scenes on the helipad, pool lobby and rooms so you can imagine how crazy that was.
Finally after that Areen got dressed up and we could head up to the church for the ceremony. It was really a nice beautiful HOT day... We all enjoyed the ceremony with this beautiful young couple, handsome Areen and Beautiful Maria! After the ceremony, pictures time! Yeah! One hour of Family pictures in front of the church in the sun...! But that was just the beginning of the 4hours shooting time in a beautiful house of LA! Yeah 4 hours! That was HUGE, US man! Anyway we did man pictures and scenes and finally we went to the Party Hall where all the guests could party for this beautiful event!
I once again want to thanks everyone for this weekend in LA, it was great and I loved to be able to see all my Family again, specially Dany and Anais who I was missing so much since my departure for Japan in March...
And my come back in Japan was funny because of the american service which sucks! I was supposed to fly from Burbank at 8:00am to San Francisco and them Osaka but I finally ended up taking a flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo and then I had to take the "always on time Japanese train" to go back home so it was a verrrrrrrry looooooonnnnggg day!
Anyway now i'm back at work, pretty hard, but i recovered from this weekend...
Saturday: The big day! And yeah it was a Big Long Crazy Day! Starting from 7am for the ladies to get the hair and make up done and 9am for the men. We had to get dressed up for the movie time! I wont reveal the secrets of the upcoming movie, you'll have to see it to believe it! :D anyway we did shoot some scenes on the helipad, pool lobby and rooms so you can imagine how crazy that was.
Finally after that Areen got dressed up and we could head up to the church for the ceremony. It was really a nice beautiful HOT day... We all enjoyed the ceremony with this beautiful young couple, handsome Areen and Beautiful Maria! After the ceremony, pictures time! Yeah! One hour of Family pictures in front of the church in the sun...! But that was just the beginning of the 4hours shooting time in a beautiful house of LA! Yeah 4 hours! That was HUGE, US man! Anyway we did man pictures and scenes and finally we went to the Party Hall where all the guests could party for this beautiful event!
I once again want to thanks everyone for this weekend in LA, it was great and I loved to be able to see all my Family again, specially Dany and Anais who I was missing so much since my departure for Japan in March...
And my come back in Japan was funny because of the american service which sucks! I was supposed to fly from Burbank at 8:00am to San Francisco and them Osaka but I finally ended up taking a flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo and then I had to take the "always on time Japanese train" to go back home so it was a verrrrrrrry looooooonnnnggg day!
Anyway now i'm back at work, pretty hard, but i recovered from this weekend...
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Weekend in California! Part 1
Oh my god! This weekend was full of emotions! I went to Los Angeles, California for the wedding of my lovely cousin Areen & Maria! This was so great to see everyone again and to enjoy this wonderful moment. I left Osaka on friday afternoon after cleaning my room and packing my small stuff. I had a flight from Osaka to San Francisco and then a connexion to Burbank. The wedding was held in Glendale, the Armenian district of LA!
Arriving in Burbank late, because of I don't know what reason, I could meet my parents, Dany & Anais, Gegecl & Garnic and Angineh jan! I was soooooo happy to be with everyone and enjoy a real family thing! We headed directly to the hair stylist, Pedro who did nothing for 40$. LoL After the hairstylist I could meet the restaurant of the Family and finally see the future Mr. & Mrs. Movsessian!
Areen brought me to the Tuxedo rental place for some tryouts before the wedding and hopefully there was some other sizes stock. It was huge! Haha
Finally we headed back to the hotel and we decided to go eat a real big American Steak! And it was not big it was extremely HUGE! OMG!
Saturday was the big day! We had to get all dressed up for the movie! Hey, we are in Hollywood man! From 10am to 1pm we recorded a lot of scenes for the upcoming movie of Areen & Maria's wedding! This was really funny and finally after all these crazy shots, we took a Big Bus to go to the church where the ceremony was held. After 1hour we could speak to Mr. & Mrs. Movsessian. Yeah Congratulations again to you guys. I hope the best in your life, love & hapiness for ever!
To be continued...
PS: I finally have the high speed internet at my dormitory so I will be able to post the pictures soon!
Arriving in Burbank late, because of I don't know what reason, I could meet my parents, Dany & Anais, Gegecl & Garnic and Angineh jan! I was soooooo happy to be with everyone and enjoy a real family thing! We headed directly to the hair stylist, Pedro who did nothing for 40$. LoL After the hairstylist I could meet the restaurant of the Family and finally see the future Mr. & Mrs. Movsessian!
Areen brought me to the Tuxedo rental place for some tryouts before the wedding and hopefully there was some other sizes stock. It was huge! Haha
Finally we headed back to the hotel and we decided to go eat a real big American Steak! And it was not big it was extremely HUGE! OMG!
Saturday was the big day! We had to get all dressed up for the movie! Hey, we are in Hollywood man! From 10am to 1pm we recorded a lot of scenes for the upcoming movie of Areen & Maria's wedding! This was really funny and finally after all these crazy shots, we took a Big Bus to go to the church where the ceremony was held. After 1hour we could speak to Mr. & Mrs. Movsessian. Yeah Congratulations again to you guys. I hope the best in your life, love & hapiness for ever!
To be continued...
PS: I finally have the high speed internet at my dormitory so I will be able to post the pictures soon!
Monday, July 5, 2010
Long time no see... (Part 2)
Here we continue with a little preview of what I will write in my future messages concerning the two past months.
After my parent's visit we finished the Ishikawa Language program with a Sayonara party which was really funny because we had to sing in front of all the school, parents and other students. Two of us had to prepare a speech to thank the teachers, staff and host families. It was pretty sad because we were saying good bye to people we got close to in such a short time.
After leaving Kanazawa on a rainy day, I met my new boss in Kashiwara, my dormitory's city where we enjoyed a small Kansai food together. Next day was the first day at work, a big shock in all the ways, but this will be part of the future messages.
Then a few days after my beginning in JTEKT I had the chance, once again, to have some visit! My pitoune! Titou! Maude! She visited me for three weeks in Osaka and because of this long time we decided to take a Guesthouse in downtown Osaka : NAMBA! Yeah the place to be in Osaka! This was such a great idea and for a very reasonable price we could get a 21.5m2 apartment in the middle of Osaka. 5min walking to Namba and Nipponbashi! This was soooo great! We visited together many places in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Kanazawa again and it was very interesting. Maude had a Japan Rail Pass for these three weeks and she enjoyed visiting many many places while I was working...!
Anyway Maude left last week and I am back at my dormitory, I feel a little sad but because my luck is huge, I won't be alone for a long time. I am flying to California this weekend! And all the family will be there, it is my cousin's wedding! AREEN! YEAH! Party! I am sooo happy to be able to participate to the wedding and to be able to see my whole family for a few days...
Anyway I will complete these two last messages with detailed messages of my parent's and Maude's visits these two months, the Sayonara party at Kanazawa and others stuff like my first Pro Baseball Game in Osaka...!
See you soon!
PS: For the pictures please give me some time, I am copying my already 250GB of pictures to my new freshly bought in the Osaka's geek town 2To backup hard disc! I will post them as soon as possible...!
After my parent's visit we finished the Ishikawa Language program with a Sayonara party which was really funny because we had to sing in front of all the school, parents and other students. Two of us had to prepare a speech to thank the teachers, staff and host families. It was pretty sad because we were saying good bye to people we got close to in such a short time.
After leaving Kanazawa on a rainy day, I met my new boss in Kashiwara, my dormitory's city where we enjoyed a small Kansai food together. Next day was the first day at work, a big shock in all the ways, but this will be part of the future messages.
Then a few days after my beginning in JTEKT I had the chance, once again, to have some visit! My pitoune! Titou! Maude! She visited me for three weeks in Osaka and because of this long time we decided to take a Guesthouse in downtown Osaka : NAMBA! Yeah the place to be in Osaka! This was such a great idea and for a very reasonable price we could get a 21.5m2 apartment in the middle of Osaka. 5min walking to Namba and Nipponbashi! This was soooo great! We visited together many places in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Kanazawa again and it was very interesting. Maude had a Japan Rail Pass for these three weeks and she enjoyed visiting many many places while I was working...!
Anyway Maude left last week and I am back at my dormitory, I feel a little sad but because my luck is huge, I won't be alone for a long time. I am flying to California this weekend! And all the family will be there, it is my cousin's wedding! AREEN! YEAH! Party! I am sooo happy to be able to participate to the wedding and to be able to see my whole family for a few days...
Anyway I will complete these two last messages with detailed messages of my parent's and Maude's visits these two months, the Sayonara party at Kanazawa and others stuff like my first Pro Baseball Game in Osaka...!
See you soon!
PS: For the pictures please give me some time, I am copying my already 250GB of pictures to my new freshly bought in the Osaka's geek town 2To backup hard disc! I will post them as soon as possible...!
Long time no see... (Part 1)
Hey everyone,
I am so sorry for the long time no see but I have been very busy these last two months. Leaving Kanazawa had been a big shock for me and I had some difficult times in the dormitory but now I feel better and I will try updating the blogspot everyday during my way back home in the train with my fabulous iPad :D
2 months ago I had the chance to get my parents visiting me in Kanazawa for my birthday. This was such a great moment and I want to thank them again! We had lot of fun! We visited Kyoto, Osaka and of course Kanazawa during these 10 days. My parents also had the chance to meet my Japanese Host Family. This was such a great moment because! The tofu restaurant was so good and having the chance to eat at home a delicious Shabu-Shabu was a great pleasure for all of us. I want to thank the Host Family for the great welcome and the dinner!
Visiting Kyoto and Osaka was great as my dad and I had the chance to come in Japan in 2004, we were the two official guides for my mother. In Osaka we went to see my actual dormitory and workplace. Anyway this message is just a preview of the next messages I will post on the Blog...
I will also upload all the pictures since two months ago (And there are a lot!)
Thank you very much for reading me again, I have a lot to tell and I will take the time to share my crazy Japanese live with you all!
See you soon!
I am so sorry for the long time no see but I have been very busy these last two months. Leaving Kanazawa had been a big shock for me and I had some difficult times in the dormitory but now I feel better and I will try updating the blogspot everyday during my way back home in the train with my fabulous iPad :D
2 months ago I had the chance to get my parents visiting me in Kanazawa for my birthday. This was such a great moment and I want to thank them again! We had lot of fun! We visited Kyoto, Osaka and of course Kanazawa during these 10 days. My parents also had the chance to meet my Japanese Host Family. This was such a great moment because! The tofu restaurant was so good and having the chance to eat at home a delicious Shabu-Shabu was a great pleasure for all of us. I want to thank the Host Family for the great welcome and the dinner!
Visiting Kyoto and Osaka was great as my dad and I had the chance to come in Japan in 2004, we were the two official guides for my mother. In Osaka we went to see my actual dormitory and workplace. Anyway this message is just a preview of the next messages I will post on the Blog...
I will also upload all the pictures since two months ago (And there are a lot!)
Thank you very much for reading me again, I have a lot to tell and I will take the time to share my crazy Japanese live with you all!
See you soon!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
First day in Osaka! Leaving Kanazawa
久しぶり！ (Hisashiburi : Long time no see!)
First day in Osaka! Tomorrow first day at work in JTEKT. I was soooo busy in May that I couldn't really take the time to write any message on the blog. I will post the messages as I did the activities and share with you everything I've done since 27th April 2010. I was lucky so that my parents visited me for my birthday.
Together we went to Osaka and Kyoto and we visited the JTEKT's dormitory, JTEKT's Nara plant. This was really cool!
I will continue updating the blog tomorrow because I am very tired tonight. I had a 4h trip from Kanazawa to Osaka and with the emotions of leaving my host family I will take a good rest until tomorrow, my first day of work since my EPFL graduation 3 months ago.
またね！ (See you!)
First day in Osaka! Tomorrow first day at work in JTEKT. I was soooo busy in May that I couldn't really take the time to write any message on the blog. I will post the messages as I did the activities and share with you everything I've done since 27th April 2010. I was lucky so that my parents visited me for my birthday.
Together we went to Osaka and Kyoto and we visited the JTEKT's dormitory, JTEKT's Nara plant. This was really cool!
I will continue updating the blog tomorrow because I am very tired tonight. I had a 4h trip from Kanazawa to Osaka and with the emotions of leaving my host family I will take a good rest until tomorrow, my first day of work since my EPFL graduation 3 months ago.
またね！ (See you!)
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Week 8 - Calligraphy, Seal Engraving & Zazen
久しぶり！ (Hisashiburi : Long time no see!)
Hey everyone, sorry for the long time since last message... I had been very busy with school & cultural activities! Here is what I did two weeks ago ;)
Week 8 : Calligraphy, Seal Engraving & Zazen (Seated Meditation)
Lot of activities on week 8! First of all we started with the Calligraphy and Seal Engraving at the International Salon of Kanazawa. I loved it! This is not as easy as just painting some lines. Calligraphy is really an art and you need a lot of practice to be able to paint a nice Kanji with the correct stroke orders, dimensions, spaces and lengths. Anyway with my beginner skills I had been able to draw some nice Kanji's that I could take with me at the end of the session. After the calligraphy we had the chance to create and engrave our own "Kanji" Seal in a stone.
The seal engraving designed our seals and we had to engrave it with some nice tools. Engraving in a stone is not an easy thing and you need to be strong but precise so you get nice lines. At the end of the engraving session we had to seal all our previously drawn calligraphy kanjis. Our favorite calligraphy has also been displayed in our school so everyone could enjoy them.
The next day we had the chance to go to a Temple where we could "learn" how to meditate. This meditation session (30 min) is called Zazen which means seated meditation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zazen). This meditation session was very interesting. Meditation is not easy and specially when sitting in a Lotus or Half-Lotus position. The Lotus positions consists of having the legs crossed in front of you. Half Lotus in only the left foot on the right one. Then you need to have you back perfectly straight. You have to keep your hand in front of you in a Cosmic Mudra position. Finally you have to have the eyes half opened half closed and look in front of you at an angle of 45°. Then meditate! Actually meditation is the art of not concentrating on any particular objet. You have to avoid to try to control your thoughts.
In this position and with a slow breathing you should automatically start to meditate. The essential thing is, by neither falling into distraction (thinking) nor dullness (drowsiness) to let zazen sit zazen (Actually this sentence is not from me but from the Zazen pamphlet).
This is all for this very interesting week! Here are the pictures...
Hey everyone, sorry for the long time since last message... I had been very busy with school & cultural activities! Here is what I did two weeks ago ;)
Week 8 : Calligraphy, Seal Engraving & Zazen (Seated Meditation)
Lot of activities on week 8! First of all we started with the Calligraphy and Seal Engraving at the International Salon of Kanazawa. I loved it! This is not as easy as just painting some lines. Calligraphy is really an art and you need a lot of practice to be able to paint a nice Kanji with the correct stroke orders, dimensions, spaces and lengths. Anyway with my beginner skills I had been able to draw some nice Kanji's that I could take with me at the end of the session. After the calligraphy we had the chance to create and engrave our own "Kanji" Seal in a stone.
The seal engraving designed our seals and we had to engrave it with some nice tools. Engraving in a stone is not an easy thing and you need to be strong but precise so you get nice lines. At the end of the engraving session we had to seal all our previously drawn calligraphy kanjis. Our favorite calligraphy has also been displayed in our school so everyone could enjoy them.
The next day we had the chance to go to a Temple where we could "learn" how to meditate. This meditation session (30 min) is called Zazen which means seated meditation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zazen). This meditation session was very interesting. Meditation is not easy and specially when sitting in a Lotus or Half-Lotus position. The Lotus positions consists of having the legs crossed in front of you. Half Lotus in only the left foot on the right one. Then you need to have you back perfectly straight. You have to keep your hand in front of you in a Cosmic Mudra position. Finally you have to have the eyes half opened half closed and look in front of you at an angle of 45°. Then meditate! Actually meditation is the art of not concentrating on any particular objet. You have to avoid to try to control your thoughts.
In this position and with a slow breathing you should automatically start to meditate. The essential thing is, by neither falling into distraction (thinking) nor dullness (drowsiness) to let zazen sit zazen (Actually this sentence is not from me but from the Zazen pamphlet).
This is all for this very interesting week! Here are the pictures...
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Week 7 - Sakuras!
さくら、さくら！ (Sakura, Sakura)
Yes it is here! Now and for only a few days... The cherry blossoms just started and are about to finish soon... The weather was good and two days and I had the chance to enjoy different gardens and place with nice Sakuras. We could also enjoy the Kenrokuen of Kanazawa by night (Special days for Sakuras).
There are also some pictures of the sea side of Kanazawa with some Sakuras.
Here is a selection of Sakura's pictures I took during this week.
Yes it is here! Now and for only a few days... The cherry blossoms just started and are about to finish soon... The weather was good and two days and I had the chance to enjoy different gardens and place with nice Sakuras. We could also enjoy the Kenrokuen of Kanazawa by night (Special days for Sakuras).
There are also some pictures of the sea side of Kanazawa with some Sakuras.
Here is a selection of Sakura's pictures I took during this week.
Week 7 - Tea Class
こんばんは。
This weekend I had the chance to do a Traditional Tea Ceremony class. This was very interesting and impressive. I enjoyed watching the precise movements for the Tea Ceremony. The movements are determined with an extreme precision and repeated for every tea you serve to your guest.
Long time ago, it was the Samurais who knew how to serve the Tea, specially when the had meetings between each others. But after the transmitted the knowledge to Geishas who served the Tea for them.
Thank you very much to the Tea Master - おちゃせんせい (Ocha sensei) for teaching me the basics for Tea Serving in Japan.
This weekend I had the chance to do a Traditional Tea Ceremony class. This was very interesting and impressive. I enjoyed watching the precise movements for the Tea Ceremony. The movements are determined with an extreme precision and repeated for every tea you serve to your guest.
Long time ago, it was the Samurais who knew how to serve the Tea, specially when the had meetings between each others. But after the transmitted the knowledge to Geishas who served the Tea for them.
Thank you very much to the Tea Master - おちゃせんせい (Ocha sensei) for teaching me the basics for Tea Serving in Japan.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Week 6 - Weekend in Noto Peninsula
こんばんは。
Again sorry for the long time no message, I was very busy these days with the Sakuras starting in Kanazawa. And the weather is good! Sunny and pretty warm (around 22 °C today) so I was out all these days to take pictures!
Weekend in Noto's Peninsula
Noto's peninsula trip was organized by the IFIE School. It was a two days trip with the French's and Thai's. Noto's is located North of Kanazawa and is known for it's traditional places, rice fields and nice landscapes. First we headed on the Beach Highway which is a road next to the sea. It was pretty funny, specially going with the bus on the beach... At this time the weather changed from a cloudy cold day to a pretty sunny weather.
After the beach we went to a Jinja Temple and as we were on a lucky day, we had the chance to assist to a traditional ceremony held for the God of Love. Three different priest had to make a hole through a target, one with a Bow, one with a Katana and one with a Spear. After this ceremony we headed for a Sea Side Viewpoint which was gorgeous with lot of rocks. The view was amazing! I love it... Finally before going to the Hotel, we went to a Buddhist temple where we could also assist a small ceremony. This ceremony was given by some of the students of the Temple supported by Masters.
At the hotel we could enjoy a small Public Bath but really relaxing after the long day of visits and walking...
Next day we went to the City Hall to see the traditional structures they use and used for the Rice ceremony at the end of summer, when they collect the rice. This ceremony is only held in this region and represents the thanks to the gods for the rice. After the City Hall visit and eating, we went to a special rice field's place. These rice fields are located on the sea side and have a lot of levels which is very nice and impressive. Finally we visited an old Samurai house.
This trip was very interesting and I will go back to Noto's peninsula to enjoy more of the sea side views and rice fields.
Again sorry for the long time no message, I was very busy these days with the Sakuras starting in Kanazawa. And the weather is good! Sunny and pretty warm (around 22 °C today) so I was out all these days to take pictures!
Weekend in Noto's Peninsula
Noto's peninsula trip was organized by the IFIE School. It was a two days trip with the French's and Thai's. Noto's is located North of Kanazawa and is known for it's traditional places, rice fields and nice landscapes. First we headed on the Beach Highway which is a road next to the sea. It was pretty funny, specially going with the bus on the beach... At this time the weather changed from a cloudy cold day to a pretty sunny weather.
After the beach we went to a Jinja Temple and as we were on a lucky day, we had the chance to assist to a traditional ceremony held for the God of Love. Three different priest had to make a hole through a target, one with a Bow, one with a Katana and one with a Spear. After this ceremony we headed for a Sea Side Viewpoint which was gorgeous with lot of rocks. The view was amazing! I love it... Finally before going to the Hotel, we went to a Buddhist temple where we could also assist a small ceremony. This ceremony was given by some of the students of the Temple supported by Masters.
At the hotel we could enjoy a small Public Bath but really relaxing after the long day of visits and walking...
Next day we went to the City Hall to see the traditional structures they use and used for the Rice ceremony at the end of summer, when they collect the rice. This ceremony is only held in this region and represents the thanks to the gods for the rice. After the City Hall visit and eating, we went to a special rice field's place. These rice fields are located on the sea side and have a lot of levels which is very nice and impressive. Finally we visited an old Samurai house.
This trip was very interesting and I will go back to Noto's peninsula to enjoy more of the sea side views and rice fields.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Week 6 - Pottery
Here are the first pictures of my ちゃわん (Chawan - Teacups)
Pottery is really hard to do and I admire the Pottery Master who does extremely nice things so fast. This time we had to lighten and clean up the teacups for the final day when we will paint them.
Pottery is really hard to do and I admire the Pottery Master who does extremely nice things so fast. This time we had to lighten and clean up the teacups for the final day when we will paint them.
Week 5 - Weekend in Kyoto 2
Sorry for the late message, I had lot to do these days.
Pottery and this weekend : Noto Peninsula Visit! So I'll post 3 messages today :
1st : Weekend in Kyoto
2nd : Pottery
3rd : Noto Peninsula
Here is the end of my previous message about the Kyoto visit.
To continue our Kyoto trip for the Sakura's, we decided to head for the Arashiyama surroundings where we could possibly see some early Sakuras. Over there there was also supposed to be a Monkey Island with a Bamboo Forest. This place is north west of Kyoto and I suggest anyone to go and have a look, it is very nice :D
There were some Sakuras! And there were Monkeys too! That was cool. There are a lot of small shops everywhere selling sweets. Kyoto is famous for its sweets and there are so many different sweets! Anyway after walking around Arashiyama we went to this monkey place which was very funny and from there there was a gorgeous view of Kyoto! I liked it a lot and the monkeys where pretty cute and funny.
After this trip we headed back to Kanazawa. The trip in Kyoto was great with lot of interesting stuff. Hope to go back soon to enjoy more of the Sakuras before it ends.
Week 5 - Weekend in Kyoto Pictures
Pottery and this weekend : Noto Peninsula Visit! So I'll post 3 messages today :
1st : Weekend in Kyoto
2nd : Pottery
3rd : Noto Peninsula
Here is the end of my previous message about the Kyoto visit.
To continue our Kyoto trip for the Sakura's, we decided to head for the Arashiyama surroundings where we could possibly see some early Sakuras. Over there there was also supposed to be a Monkey Island with a Bamboo Forest. This place is north west of Kyoto and I suggest anyone to go and have a look, it is very nice :D
There were some Sakuras! And there were Monkeys too! That was cool. There are a lot of small shops everywhere selling sweets. Kyoto is famous for its sweets and there are so many different sweets! Anyway after walking around Arashiyama we went to this monkey place which was very funny and from there there was a gorgeous view of Kyoto! I liked it a lot and the monkeys where pretty cute and funny.
After this trip we headed back to Kanazawa. The trip in Kyoto was great with lot of interesting stuff. Hope to go back soon to enjoy more of the Sakuras before it ends.
Week 5 - Weekend in Kyoto Pictures
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Week 5 - Weekend in Kyoto
こんばんは。
One week since last message because lot of work and a great weekend in Kyoto! First to resume last week's school : Study, Test, Study, Test.......... Very busy but anyway new things in my Japanese life : a Phone & a Bank Account. Actually it isn't a Japanese phone but an iPhone. Yeah I know this is crazy but the Japanese phones that have the same options like WIFI, GPS and lot of applications are sooooo expensive! The iPhone was the best considering I can use Fring (free iPhone to iPhone calls), Skype & Whatsapp. Anyway if you want my Japanese number just send me a message ;)
Wednesday - Pottery time!
WoW this is hard. Pottery making is not an easy thing at least for a man like me. Even with my small hands and "my patience" I had hard times to do a big Japanese Tea Cup. Anyway I could bring something interesting to the Pottery-Master. This week we'll have to polish and light the Tea Cups to finally paint them in two weeks. I will post pictures of my Tea Cup on Wednesday or Thursday depending on my free time.
Weekend - KYOTO! 京都。
I love this city! Everyone who visited it does. We decided to go and visit Kyoto this weekend because the Sakura is coming (Sakura : Cherry Blossom). Sakura is one of the most important thing in Japan. It is sacred. Lot's of event are done during the Sakura time which is pretty small considering that if it rains the cherry trees will lose its petals in a few days but if the weather is fine it can last to 2 or 3 weeks some times. We decided to go to Kyoto the last weekend because this weekend we are heading to Noto Peninsula (North of Kanazawa) with the French students who arrived on monday. These students are from a Management School in Bretagne and are here for a few weeks to study Japanese.
This weekend was the first weekend of the Sakura. 25% of the Sakuras where open in Kyoto (Here in Kanazawa it is colder so it won't come until mid of April) so we could enjoy them at some places. We could find a small Hostel in Kyoto after making 25 calls. It was dormitories but the price was great and the location fine. To go to Kyoto we rented a car at a Mazda rent-a-car dealer (レンタカー : rentaka). I could use my translated driver's license because Japan didn't signed the same International convention as Swiss did so you need to get the license translated for 4000 Yen (40 CHF) at the Swiss Embassy of Tokyo. The price was also very good with everything included. Highway tolls in Japan are known to be expensive but if you travel on Weekends and with a ETC System (Electronic Toll Control) you can get a special price of 1000 Yen for any destination. Thanks to my host family to letting me use it ;)
Arriving in Kyoto we decided to go and visit one of the most visited spot in Japan : Kankokuji Temple (Gold Temple) which was pretty close to our Hotel. After that we headed to Kyomizu which is located in south Kyoto. I didn't went there during my two last Japanese trips so it was a very nice new experience. I liked it a lot. After the temple we wanted to go eat something out and enjoy a Good Karaoke in downtown Kyoto : Gion! We met a friend of Claudio in Kinkakuji who came with us to the restaurant and the karaoke! It was sooooo cool! We had lot of fun but that would mean a short night if we wanted to visit more of Kyoto on sunday...
Here are the pictures of Saturday in Kyoto!
Sunday, to be continued...
One week since last message because lot of work and a great weekend in Kyoto! First to resume last week's school : Study, Test, Study, Test.......... Very busy but anyway new things in my Japanese life : a Phone & a Bank Account. Actually it isn't a Japanese phone but an iPhone. Yeah I know this is crazy but the Japanese phones that have the same options like WIFI, GPS and lot of applications are sooooo expensive! The iPhone was the best considering I can use Fring (free iPhone to iPhone calls), Skype & Whatsapp. Anyway if you want my Japanese number just send me a message ;)
Wednesday - Pottery time!
WoW this is hard. Pottery making is not an easy thing at least for a man like me. Even with my small hands and "my patience" I had hard times to do a big Japanese Tea Cup. Anyway I could bring something interesting to the Pottery-Master. This week we'll have to polish and light the Tea Cups to finally paint them in two weeks. I will post pictures of my Tea Cup on Wednesday or Thursday depending on my free time.
Weekend - KYOTO! 京都。
I love this city! Everyone who visited it does. We decided to go and visit Kyoto this weekend because the Sakura is coming (Sakura : Cherry Blossom). Sakura is one of the most important thing in Japan. It is sacred. Lot's of event are done during the Sakura time which is pretty small considering that if it rains the cherry trees will lose its petals in a few days but if the weather is fine it can last to 2 or 3 weeks some times. We decided to go to Kyoto the last weekend because this weekend we are heading to Noto Peninsula (North of Kanazawa) with the French students who arrived on monday. These students are from a Management School in Bretagne and are here for a few weeks to study Japanese.
This weekend was the first weekend of the Sakura. 25% of the Sakuras where open in Kyoto (Here in Kanazawa it is colder so it won't come until mid of April) so we could enjoy them at some places. We could find a small Hostel in Kyoto after making 25 calls. It was dormitories but the price was great and the location fine. To go to Kyoto we rented a car at a Mazda rent-a-car dealer (レンタカー : rentaka). I could use my translated driver's license because Japan didn't signed the same International convention as Swiss did so you need to get the license translated for 4000 Yen (40 CHF) at the Swiss Embassy of Tokyo. The price was also very good with everything included. Highway tolls in Japan are known to be expensive but if you travel on Weekends and with a ETC System (Electronic Toll Control) you can get a special price of 1000 Yen for any destination. Thanks to my host family to letting me use it ;)
Arriving in Kyoto we decided to go and visit one of the most visited spot in Japan : Kankokuji Temple (Gold Temple) which was pretty close to our Hotel. After that we headed to Kyomizu which is located in south Kyoto. I didn't went there during my two last Japanese trips so it was a very nice new experience. I liked it a lot. After the temple we wanted to go eat something out and enjoy a Good Karaoke in downtown Kyoto : Gion! We met a friend of Claudio in Kinkakuji who came with us to the restaurant and the karaoke! It was sooooo cool! We had lot of fun but that would mean a short night if we wanted to visit more of Kyoto on sunday...
Here are the pictures of Saturday in Kyoto!
Sunday, to be continued...
Monday, March 22, 2010
Free comments are now open!
You can now post your comments without using a Google account or whatever. I just made it free to anyone you'd like to post a comment. I hope i won't have to disable this because of spamming problems. We'll see in the future!
Feel free to leave me comments, questions or remarks!
Feel free to leave me comments, questions or remarks!
Week 4 - Sake Brewery Tour & Wrestling
すごい! What a crazy weekend! I had the chance to see two rare things, a Sake Brewery and a Japanese Pro Wrestling Event LoL...
There isn't much to say about these two events that you actually need to see it by yourself to believe it, specially for the Wrestling HaHa...
Anyway concerning the Sake Brewery we had the chance to meet Americans (most of them english teacher for Japanese students) that were organizing a Sake Tour in one of the oldest Sake Brewery of Japan. In this brewery they were still using the same methods and timings as they did long time 300 years ago. This brewery was 380 years old and had never moved yet. This comes from the most important ingredient of the Sake which is water and not rice. Rice is also very important but they import rice from the best rice farms in Japan. But water is not imported, it comes from the mountains around Kanazawa which brings the best water for the Sake. It has a lot of minerals in it and is very sacred for this brewery.
We had the chance to visit the different places where you have the sake polished and then steamed so you get a wet rice called Koji. At this point the rice transforms itself slowly to sake. You'll have to filter it and keep the rice at a certain temperature to get the best sake.
It only takes about 35 to 40 days to get sake. The best sake comes from the best water and also from the amount of polishing the rice. This means the more polished the rice is the better sake you'll get. (I don't know if my english is good, but i'm doing my best :D).
Anyway you can find old sake (5 to 30 years old) which is more like a light Whisky but it is actually rare to find it.
Finally this sunday we had the chance to attend a Pro Wrestling Event in Kanazawa. Thanks for the host-family mother of Jerome-san who invited us because her son is one of the referee in the Pro Wrestling Tour. It is so funny to watch but it was really cold because we were actually in a open stadium and the weather was cold (5 °C!)... Anyway we enjoyed it a lot!
Here are the pictures!
There isn't much to say about these two events that you actually need to see it by yourself to believe it, specially for the Wrestling HaHa...
Anyway concerning the Sake Brewery we had the chance to meet Americans (most of them english teacher for Japanese students) that were organizing a Sake Tour in one of the oldest Sake Brewery of Japan. In this brewery they were still using the same methods and timings as they did long time 300 years ago. This brewery was 380 years old and had never moved yet. This comes from the most important ingredient of the Sake which is water and not rice. Rice is also very important but they import rice from the best rice farms in Japan. But water is not imported, it comes from the mountains around Kanazawa which brings the best water for the Sake. It has a lot of minerals in it and is very sacred for this brewery.
We had the chance to visit the different places where you have the sake polished and then steamed so you get a wet rice called Koji. At this point the rice transforms itself slowly to sake. You'll have to filter it and keep the rice at a certain temperature to get the best sake.
It only takes about 35 to 40 days to get sake. The best sake comes from the best water and also from the amount of polishing the rice. This means the more polished the rice is the better sake you'll get. (I don't know if my english is good, but i'm doing my best :D).
Anyway you can find old sake (5 to 30 years old) which is more like a light Whisky but it is actually rare to find it.
Finally this sunday we had the chance to attend a Pro Wrestling Event in Kanazawa. Thanks for the host-family mother of Jerome-san who invited us because her son is one of the referee in the Pro Wrestling Tour. It is so funny to watch but it was really cold because we were actually in a open stadium and the weather was cold (5 °C!)... Anyway we enjoyed it a lot!
Here are the pictures!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Week 4 - Kimono Wearing and lot of work at school
Hey guys! Sorry for the long time until this new message, I've been very busy this week with school and cultural activities. I was sooo tired at nights I didn't found the energy to update the blog and the pictures but here we are! :D
Before talking about this week activity I'd like to share with you the pictures I took this sunday 14th March at the Kenrokuen Park. The weather was really nice so I decided to head for a new tour inside the Park. Enjoy ;)
16th March - Wearing Kimono
As a man I was going to wear a Samuraï Kimono! This is so nice and difficult to wear. It take around 10 minutes per person to wear a Kimono, oh and, you can't wear it alone of course. You need a Kimono Master to help you out. It is impossible to wear it by yourself. I will let you enjoy the many pictures we took in the International Lounge. This lounge is an old house were some of the cultural activities will be done during this three months. The house is located near the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art of Kanazawa.
We had lot of laughing when we had to go from one house to another because we had to be carefull with the 2000-3000 CHF Kimonos we were wearing and our coordinator had lot of fun watching at Gaijins (Foreigners)... Enjoy!
Before talking about this week activity I'd like to share with you the pictures I took this sunday 14th March at the Kenrokuen Park. The weather was really nice so I decided to head for a new tour inside the Park. Enjoy ;)
16th March - Wearing Kimono
As a man I was going to wear a Samuraï Kimono! This is so nice and difficult to wear. It take around 10 minutes per person to wear a Kimono, oh and, you can't wear it alone of course. You need a Kimono Master to help you out. It is impossible to wear it by yourself. I will let you enjoy the many pictures we took in the International Lounge. This lounge is an old house were some of the cultural activities will be done during this three months. The house is located near the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art of Kanazawa.
We had lot of laughing when we had to go from one house to another because we had to be carefull with the 2000-3000 CHF Kimonos we were wearing and our coordinator had lot of fun watching at Gaijins (Foreigners)... Enjoy!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Day 15 & 16 - Tatsuyama Temple District Kanazawa
おはよございます! (Ohayo Gozaimasu - Good Morning)
Yes I am waking up while you are maybe already sleeping :P I have posted new pictures of the last day in the Tatsuyama Temple District in North-East of Kanazawa near my house. I met Jerome-san over there and decided to go with the bike because it was sunny! Again!? WoW two days sunny! I assure you today is not sunny, it is very rainy and windy ;)
Day 15 - Sakuda Workshop Decorating Chopsticks with Gold Leaf
Thursday 12 March 2010 GOLD! Yeah! We went to the Geisha district where the Sakuda Workshop was to create our own gold chopsticks. This was a great experience. There are a few steps to but gold on anything. First the design, you let your own creativity talk and you use scotch tape with a cutter to create your future design. Then you apply the scotch tape on the chopsticks with the different holes, lines or squares for the gold. Then you put some paste on it, I didn't understood what the Gold leaf Master told me, anyway it is kind of sticky. Then you apply gold slowly and with love :D You have to roll one chopsticks from one side to the middle of the gold leaf and then take the second one and roll it from the other side to the middle. Finally you slowly brake the gold leaf in the middle and you use small brushes to be sure the gold is correctly place. Finally you take of the scotch tape and you're done ;) It take around two weeks to have them completely dry. I loved it :D
After the gold leaf workshop I went back home and on the way back I saw small boys playing Baseball near my house. I tried talking with them but I could only have a small contact because they were a little afraid of me. I am a がいじん (Gaijin - stranger)! But anyway they used english words for bases positions, stikes and balls. It was funny and cute to see :)
Day 16 - Tatsuyama Temple District
Yesterday afternoon we went to the Tatsuyama Temple District. Yama means mountain and it is a small mountain in the north east of Kanazawa with an incredible view of the "Small City of Kanazawa" which is Huge comparing to our cities :P I took my bike from the house and I met Jerome in the Geisha district, from there we went all the way up and visited kind of abandoned temples which was really special if you consider that all the temples and shrines here are really clean and taken care of. For example in the Kenrokuen Park, they clean the rivers and clean the grass which is amazing.
After this amazing afternoon I took my bike and went to a Bike shop to buy a lock for it. I went to an enormous PACHINKO Slot Machines center and also a GOlf Practice. Huge!
Here are a selection of the pictures I took. I already need a new hard drive to back up my 65GB of pictures! LoL
Today we will have to be "Tourists" for Tourist School students. We are going to assists students who want to be English Tourist Guides for the Kenrokuen Park and will have to give them a feedback of their visit. But it rains a lot! I hope it'll be fun anyway :P
Yes I am waking up while you are maybe already sleeping :P I have posted new pictures of the last day in the Tatsuyama Temple District in North-East of Kanazawa near my house. I met Jerome-san over there and decided to go with the bike because it was sunny! Again!? WoW two days sunny! I assure you today is not sunny, it is very rainy and windy ;)
Day 15 - Sakuda Workshop Decorating Chopsticks with Gold Leaf
Thursday 12 March 2010 GOLD! Yeah! We went to the Geisha district where the Sakuda Workshop was to create our own gold chopsticks. This was a great experience. There are a few steps to but gold on anything. First the design, you let your own creativity talk and you use scotch tape with a cutter to create your future design. Then you apply the scotch tape on the chopsticks with the different holes, lines or squares for the gold. Then you put some paste on it, I didn't understood what the Gold leaf Master told me, anyway it is kind of sticky. Then you apply gold slowly and with love :D You have to roll one chopsticks from one side to the middle of the gold leaf and then take the second one and roll it from the other side to the middle. Finally you slowly brake the gold leaf in the middle and you use small brushes to be sure the gold is correctly place. Finally you take of the scotch tape and you're done ;) It take around two weeks to have them completely dry. I loved it :D
After the gold leaf workshop I went back home and on the way back I saw small boys playing Baseball near my house. I tried talking with them but I could only have a small contact because they were a little afraid of me. I am a がいじん (Gaijin - stranger)! But anyway they used english words for bases positions, stikes and balls. It was funny and cute to see :)
Day 16 - Tatsuyama Temple District
Yesterday afternoon we went to the Tatsuyama Temple District. Yama means mountain and it is a small mountain in the north east of Kanazawa with an incredible view of the "Small City of Kanazawa" which is Huge comparing to our cities :P I took my bike from the house and I met Jerome in the Geisha district, from there we went all the way up and visited kind of abandoned temples which was really special if you consider that all the temples and shrines here are really clean and taken care of. For example in the Kenrokuen Park, they clean the rivers and clean the grass which is amazing.
After this amazing afternoon I took my bike and went to a Bike shop to buy a lock for it. I went to an enormous PACHINKO Slot Machines center and also a GOlf Practice. Huge!
Here are a selection of the pictures I took. I already need a new hard drive to back up my 65GB of pictures! LoL
Today we will have to be "Tourists" for Tourist School students. We are going to assists students who want to be English Tourist Guides for the Kenrokuen Park and will have to give them a feedback of their visit. But it rains a lot! I hope it'll be fun anyway :P
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Day 15 - Gold Leaf Chopsticks and Geisha District (Preview)
こんばんは!
I am very tired tonight, so sadly no message but only pictures. I will edit this post tomorrow ;)
I am very tired tonight, so sadly no message but only pictures. I will edit this post tomorrow ;)
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Day 11, 12 & 13 - Kanazawa Kenrokuen Garden, Castle
Hey all!
Yesterday I couldn't post any new message because we had a really full day until the night and I was so tired (つかれました : Tsukaremashita - I am tired). Anyway this afternoon we didn't had any activities so I took time to sleep almost 2 hours when I came back from school and now I am writing you this message.
Day 11 - Sunday (にちようび - Nichiyobi)
This sunday was an important day for me because I was going to meet new members of the family. We woke up a around 12:00 and we ate a brunch with the whole family. It was a special brunch because of the rice and other Japanese meals but I really enjoyed it like everything. After this we talked a lot and because of the weather I decided to stay at home and go to bed not as late as always.
Because the husband had to leave for Tokyo not too late, we went to a local restaurant and again this was incredibly good. It was on tatamis with typical food.
Day 12 - Monday Kanazawa Kenrokuen & Castle
First outside cultural activity! Visit of the Kenrokuen Park and Castle with a Japanese Tea Ceremony. The weather was awful. All gray of clouds! But I was hoping for some sun later. And yes, the sun came in the end of the afternoon when finishing the visit of the Kenrokuen park. Anyway I tried to take pictures with this weather which is very difficult, anyway I am happy of some of my pictures.
The Tea Ceremony was really interesting. You have to say some things and then take the bowl with the right hand, turn twice clockwise and then drink. When you drink you HAVE to make some noise. If you don't this means you don't like it. After drinking, you clean the place you drink and turn twice counterclockwise. After this you thank the Tea-lady in Kimono and you're done. I think this ceremony was more a tourist one than a usual Tea Ceremony. Anyway it was cool, we could also visit the small house inside the park. After this we headed to the Castle which is Huge! I really like the architecture of these white castles.
Day 13 - Snowy day!
Nothing special today unless we are in a snow storm! This is amazing... Maybe tomorrow I'll head to the Kenrokuen park and Castle to enjoy the place with snow which is said to be very special when snowy ;)
Yesterday I couldn't post any new message because we had a really full day until the night and I was so tired (つかれました : Tsukaremashita - I am tired). Anyway this afternoon we didn't had any activities so I took time to sleep almost 2 hours when I came back from school and now I am writing you this message.
Day 11 - Sunday (にちようび - Nichiyobi)
This sunday was an important day for me because I was going to meet new members of the family. We woke up a around 12:00 and we ate a brunch with the whole family. It was a special brunch because of the rice and other Japanese meals but I really enjoyed it like everything. After this we talked a lot and because of the weather I decided to stay at home and go to bed not as late as always.
Because the husband had to leave for Tokyo not too late, we went to a local restaurant and again this was incredibly good. It was on tatamis with typical food.
Day 12 - Monday Kanazawa Kenrokuen & Castle
First outside cultural activity! Visit of the Kenrokuen Park and Castle with a Japanese Tea Ceremony. The weather was awful. All gray of clouds! But I was hoping for some sun later. And yes, the sun came in the end of the afternoon when finishing the visit of the Kenrokuen park. Anyway I tried to take pictures with this weather which is very difficult, anyway I am happy of some of my pictures.
The Tea Ceremony was really interesting. You have to say some things and then take the bowl with the right hand, turn twice clockwise and then drink. When you drink you HAVE to make some noise. If you don't this means you don't like it. After drinking, you clean the place you drink and turn twice counterclockwise. After this you thank the Tea-lady in Kimono and you're done. I think this ceremony was more a tourist one than a usual Tea Ceremony. Anyway it was cool, we could also visit the small house inside the park. After this we headed to the Castle which is Huge! I really like the architecture of these white castles.
Day 13 - Snowy day!
Nothing special today unless we are in a snow storm! This is amazing... Maybe tomorrow I'll head to the Kenrokuen park and Castle to enjoy the place with snow which is said to be very special when snowy ;)
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Day 3 : Honda Asimo Robot Demonstration
Honda Asimo Robot Demonstration
Mise en ligne par arismaroonian
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Day 9 and 10 - 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art (SANAA)
こんばんは!
Another two days in Japan! ^_^ So many new things every days! Here is a short preview of these two days :
Day 9 : School - First and second Unit Test. The test was pretty easy and I can feel my Japanese improving every time I speak with my host family or outside. Anyway my vocabulary is still small and they speak pretty fast here... After school we met Yoshida-san (Our coordinator for the trip in Kanazawa) to chose our future stamp! Yes in Japan they are not used to sign, for official papers, they use personal stamps. And to open the bank account or get a cell phone we absolutely need a stamp. I will post a picture as soon as I get mine.
We went to Kanazawa-downtown to visit the shops and department stores. We ended playing Time Crisis 4 in a Video Games Center :P After coming back home I decided to take the bicycle to go the Geisha district near the house. I took a few pictures but on monday we will go there and enjoy a Tea Ceremony in a Geisha House.
At 5.30 pm I had to come back home because I had to attend the english-course for young japanese girls my host family mother was giving. She wanted me to present myself in Japanese and english. It was sooooo funny! They were so cute. I had to sign authographs and stand for pictures. I made a few pictures and a video to show you the energy these young girls had! This was amazing! At the same time they were soooo shy! One almost cried when I spoke to her in english... LoL
After all these emotions we went to a Yakitori restaurant which was also amazing! So delicious (おいしいです - Oishi desu - It's delicious). They had a crazy machine serving the beers automatically, I loved it ;)
Day 10 : 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art - Architects : SANAA (http://www.kanazawa21.jp/en/) and Samurai district
Today we decided, Claudio, Jerome and I to go visit the SANAA Museum. SANAA is the famous Japanese architects who built the new Rolex Learning Center in EPFL. The building is nice with lot of spaces for expositions. Many things are similar between the Rolex Learning Center and the 21st Century Museum. I'll let you enjoy the pictures. The current event was by the Danish/ Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson : "Your chance encounter". Completely crazy art but we loved it! I took a few pics of inside art even if it was forbidden just to show you the most incredible stuffs we saw.
After this we decided to head down the Downtown to the Samurai district which is very nice with old houses. We could enter in some of them which were converted to gifts shops etc...
Tonight I should meet the two daughters with the husband and the new baby born. I am tired but I am sure the night will be as great as all others I passed here. There is still a strange feeling of not knowing the day because everything is always open. All days until midnight so there is no real sunday to rest like in switzerland...
Enjoy the pictures!
Another two days in Japan! ^_^ So many new things every days! Here is a short preview of these two days :
Day 9 : School - First and second Unit Test. The test was pretty easy and I can feel my Japanese improving every time I speak with my host family or outside. Anyway my vocabulary is still small and they speak pretty fast here... After school we met Yoshida-san (Our coordinator for the trip in Kanazawa) to chose our future stamp! Yes in Japan they are not used to sign, for official papers, they use personal stamps. And to open the bank account or get a cell phone we absolutely need a stamp. I will post a picture as soon as I get mine.
We went to Kanazawa-downtown to visit the shops and department stores. We ended playing Time Crisis 4 in a Video Games Center :P After coming back home I decided to take the bicycle to go the Geisha district near the house. I took a few pictures but on monday we will go there and enjoy a Tea Ceremony in a Geisha House.
At 5.30 pm I had to come back home because I had to attend the english-course for young japanese girls my host family mother was giving. She wanted me to present myself in Japanese and english. It was sooooo funny! They were so cute. I had to sign authographs and stand for pictures. I made a few pictures and a video to show you the energy these young girls had! This was amazing! At the same time they were soooo shy! One almost cried when I spoke to her in english... LoL
After all these emotions we went to a Yakitori restaurant which was also amazing! So delicious (おいしいです - Oishi desu - It's delicious). They had a crazy machine serving the beers automatically, I loved it ;)
Day 10 : 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art - Architects : SANAA (http://www.kanazawa21.jp/en/) and Samurai district
Today we decided, Claudio, Jerome and I to go visit the SANAA Museum. SANAA is the famous Japanese architects who built the new Rolex Learning Center in EPFL. The building is nice with lot of spaces for expositions. Many things are similar between the Rolex Learning Center and the 21st Century Museum. I'll let you enjoy the pictures. The current event was by the Danish/ Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson : "Your chance encounter". Completely crazy art but we loved it! I took a few pics of inside art even if it was forbidden just to show you the most incredible stuffs we saw.
After this we decided to head down the Downtown to the Samurai district which is very nice with old houses. We could enter in some of them which were converted to gifts shops etc...
Tonight I should meet the two daughters with the husband and the new baby born. I am tired but I am sure the night will be as great as all others I passed here. There is still a strange feeling of not knowing the day because everything is always open. All days until midnight so there is no real sunday to rest like in switzerland...
Enjoy the pictures!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Day 8
こんばんは!
A short message to tell you that today we went to the City Hall to get our Alien Card but it'll take a long time to get it. March 23rd will be the date. So until this I won't be able to open a bank account nor get a japanese phone... Anyway we went to visit Kanazawa's downtown which is very nice with lot of shops.
I also tried the Japanese Donuts (Mister Donut) but I was a little disappointed. Food portion here is small but it is efficient. You don't feel heavy and not anymore hungry but with the Donut I was still a little hungry after so I am not convinced of this American Japanese Food :D I prefer traditional deserts :P
Anyway tomorrow we have our first Japanese test. So now it is time to sleep :)
おやすみなさい!
A short message to tell you that today we went to the City Hall to get our Alien Card but it'll take a long time to get it. March 23rd will be the date. So until this I won't be able to open a bank account nor get a japanese phone... Anyway we went to visit Kanazawa's downtown which is very nice with lot of shops.
I also tried the Japanese Donuts (Mister Donut) but I was a little disappointed. Food portion here is small but it is efficient. You don't feel heavy and not anymore hungry but with the Donut I was still a little hungry after so I am not convinced of this American Japanese Food :D I prefer traditional deserts :P
Anyway tomorrow we have our first Japanese test. So now it is time to sleep :)
おやすみなさい!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Day 7 - Kanazawa
こんばんは!
Back from my first photo-day in Kanazawa. We had our first activity this afternoon : Photo Workshop. The idea is that we will have to take pictures and submit them to the teacher. After submitting 54 pictures we will have to produce a poster with any of these pictures. I don't know the theme of my pictures yet but I have a few ideas...
Anyway after the class Claudio and I decided to go for a Walk in 金沢 (Kanazawa). We went to the Omicho ichiba market. You can find fishes (Sakana : さかな), vegetables (Yasai : やさい) and fruits (Kajitsu : かじつ). After visiting the small market, we went to the Oyama Jinja Shrine which is a small but very nice shrine dedicated to the first lord of Kaga (Old province where we are right now).
The weather today was much better than the first days. A little sun but still clouds in the sky. I hope there will be more sunny days so we can enjoy the Sakura (さくら) : Cherry blossom in Japanese.
Tomorrow afternoon we will go for the Alien Card Registration Office so we can get our foreigner card. We will also have to buy a stamp of our name. With this card and stamp we will be able to open a bank account and get a japanese cell phone.
じゃまたあした!
Back from my first photo-day in Kanazawa. We had our first activity this afternoon : Photo Workshop. The idea is that we will have to take pictures and submit them to the teacher. After submitting 54 pictures we will have to produce a poster with any of these pictures. I don't know the theme of my pictures yet but I have a few ideas...
Anyway after the class Claudio and I decided to go for a Walk in 金沢 (Kanazawa). We went to the Omicho ichiba market. You can find fishes (Sakana : さかな), vegetables (Yasai : やさい) and fruits (Kajitsu : かじつ). After visiting the small market, we went to the Oyama Jinja Shrine which is a small but very nice shrine dedicated to the first lord of Kaga (Old province where we are right now).
The weather today was much better than the first days. A little sun but still clouds in the sky. I hope there will be more sunny days so we can enjoy the Sakura (さくら) : Cherry blossom in Japanese.
Tomorrow afternoon we will go for the Alien Card Registration Office so we can get our foreigner card. We will also have to buy a stamp of our name. With this card and stamp we will be able to open a bank account and get a japanese cell phone.
じゃまたあした!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Day 6 (Day 3, 4 and 5)
こんばんは!
We just came back from a Teppanyaki restaurant. In this place you had to order the ingredients and then cook them in front of you on a Teppanyaki. It was so delicious! おなかがいっぱいです。(Onaka ga ippai desu : I am full!)
Anyway here is a short resume of my last days now that I have some time for you ;)
> Day 3 in Tokyo
We wanted to make a "light walking day" so we woke up late and decided to go to the Odaiba district to go in the Miraiku Museum : Museum of Science and Innovations (Museum for geeks :P)
Anyway we had to took a Monorail train like the Metro M2 in Lausanne with no drivers and go on this built island. In this area we could find Universities and students facilities... The Museum was HUGE! Very interesting with lot of interactive stands and specially a ASIMO Robot Demonstration! Soooo coool :D After the museum we went to Ginza to walk around all the luxury shops and finally we headed to Akihabara to play some Tekken 6 in the Sega Club place.
> Day 4 : THE BIG DAY! Meeting the Host Family in Kanazawa.
Day 4 is for me the most intense day since the beginning of the trip. We were going to meet our Host Family in Kanazawa. Kanazawa is 4 hours away from Tokyo with Express train (small Shinkansen) and is called the "Cold and small Kyoto". It has lot of temples, parks and traditional things to visit. After arriving in Kanazawa train station, we met Yoshida-san, our trip coordinator. This guy is so gentle. He presented us the school and the facilities and after 1 hour we had the chance to met our host families one by one... So stressful! :O
My family : Fujimoto is great. I met the mother first and she is very kind and helpful with me. She speaks perfectly english and it helps me all the time to improve my Japanese. She seems to be happy with me speaking a lot about anything. We took her car to go to their house and I could finally empty my 5 Kilogs of gifts and chocolate of my luggages ;) We ate Shabu Shabu (famous Japanese fondue) and it was sooooooo delicious! Unbelievable. I also met the father and the grandmother which are very nice with me too. Lucky me, I feel good here.
> Day 5 : First school day! No class but meetings and visiting
After meeting the family, we had now to meet our teachers (4!), the president of the school and officials. We had to wear formal clothes because in the afternoon we were going to meet the local VIPs : Director General of Tourism Bureau, Deputy Director General of Tourism Bureau, Manager of Int'l Exchange Division and Managing Director of IFIE (Our school). Everything was planned as an official visit. Swiss and Japanese flags, official photographs and lot of stress. We were going to receive a scholarship and a present from them and I decided to be the one who will thank all of them in Japanese. And it was great. They were very respectful for us and funny. We talked about the Olympics and other things like that. And guess what! I am in the local Newspaper with my name in it (Picture will come soon). This is sooo cool :D
After that we came back to our respective homes to enjoy once again a very nice meal!
> Day 6 : First real class day
The class is excellent. We are using the same books as in Switzerland so it is a small review of what we should have learned during our 3 months of Japanese (Which is 24 hours altogether :P). We ate in town and then walked a little around the school. Tomorrow we will have our first activity : PHOTO WORKSHOP! This will be an excellent way to use my camera ;) I am really excited about it.
ありがとございます : Thank you!
じゃまたあした : See you tomorrow!
Here are the pictures for Day 3.
We just came back from a Teppanyaki restaurant. In this place you had to order the ingredients and then cook them in front of you on a Teppanyaki. It was so delicious! おなかがいっぱいです。(Onaka ga ippai desu : I am full!)
Anyway here is a short resume of my last days now that I have some time for you ;)
> Day 3 in Tokyo
We wanted to make a "light walking day" so we woke up late and decided to go to the Odaiba district to go in the Miraiku Museum : Museum of Science and Innovations (Museum for geeks :P)
Anyway we had to took a Monorail train like the Metro M2 in Lausanne with no drivers and go on this built island. In this area we could find Universities and students facilities... The Museum was HUGE! Very interesting with lot of interactive stands and specially a ASIMO Robot Demonstration! Soooo coool :D After the museum we went to Ginza to walk around all the luxury shops and finally we headed to Akihabara to play some Tekken 6 in the Sega Club place.
> Day 4 : THE BIG DAY! Meeting the Host Family in Kanazawa.
Day 4 is for me the most intense day since the beginning of the trip. We were going to meet our Host Family in Kanazawa. Kanazawa is 4 hours away from Tokyo with Express train (small Shinkansen) and is called the "Cold and small Kyoto". It has lot of temples, parks and traditional things to visit. After arriving in Kanazawa train station, we met Yoshida-san, our trip coordinator. This guy is so gentle. He presented us the school and the facilities and after 1 hour we had the chance to met our host families one by one... So stressful! :O
My family : Fujimoto is great. I met the mother first and she is very kind and helpful with me. She speaks perfectly english and it helps me all the time to improve my Japanese. She seems to be happy with me speaking a lot about anything. We took her car to go to their house and I could finally empty my 5 Kilogs of gifts and chocolate of my luggages ;) We ate Shabu Shabu (famous Japanese fondue) and it was sooooooo delicious! Unbelievable. I also met the father and the grandmother which are very nice with me too. Lucky me, I feel good here.
> Day 5 : First school day! No class but meetings and visiting
After meeting the family, we had now to meet our teachers (4!), the president of the school and officials. We had to wear formal clothes because in the afternoon we were going to meet the local VIPs : Director General of Tourism Bureau, Deputy Director General of Tourism Bureau, Manager of Int'l Exchange Division and Managing Director of IFIE (Our school). Everything was planned as an official visit. Swiss and Japanese flags, official photographs and lot of stress. We were going to receive a scholarship and a present from them and I decided to be the one who will thank all of them in Japanese. And it was great. They were very respectful for us and funny. We talked about the Olympics and other things like that. And guess what! I am in the local Newspaper with my name in it (Picture will come soon). This is sooo cool :D
After that we came back to our respective homes to enjoy once again a very nice meal!
> Day 6 : First real class day
The class is excellent. We are using the same books as in Switzerland so it is a small review of what we should have learned during our 3 months of Japanese (Which is 24 hours altogether :P). We ate in town and then walked a little around the school. Tomorrow we will have our first activity : PHOTO WORKSHOP! This will be an excellent way to use my camera ;) I am really excited about it.
ありがとございます : Thank you!
じゃまたあした : See you tomorrow!
Here are the pictures for Day 3.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Day 5
こんばんは!
Sorry for the missing Day 3. I have been very busy for the home stay family, school and very tired of the Tokyo trip. I won't be able to upload the pictures on flickr tonight, I need some sleep...
I will post a message concerning the past days tomorrow, keep in touch ;)
じゃまた
Sorry for the missing Day 3. I have been very busy for the home stay family, school and very tired of the Tokyo trip. I won't be able to upload the pictures on flickr tonight, I need some sleep...
I will post a message concerning the past days tomorrow, keep in touch ;)
じゃまた
Friday, February 26, 2010
DAY 2!
The plans have changed... Oh yeah, I had to sleeeeeeeeeep :D So no Fish Market of Tsukiji today. But many many places visited! Many kilometers done and Kcal lost :)
After taking a real small breakfast we went to Shinjuku which has the most crowded Metro Station of the world : 3.7 million people everyday! HUGE! And it is! It's really easy to lose his way ^_^ Hopefully the Japanese are really helpful. At the train station there is always a lady giving us the directions and the price for the Subway which is really cool because everything is in Japanese and it's rare to find an English map with the directions and the price on it.
In Shinjuku station we bought our Shinkansen and Express train tickets for Kanazawa. We will leave Tokyo on Sunday at around 9am so we can assist the ceremony that will be placed specially for us in the language school. After visiting Shinjuku we visited the areas and the many shops around there. After that we went to Harajuku which is also another place with many CraZy people! Mainly young people wearing "costumes" for clothes. Again lot of noise but really nice. The streets were more like a European city than a Japanese one.
Harajuku done! We went to Shibuya which is also very very crowded like everywhere in Tokyo I think. Lot of shops and games places. There is also a Love Hotel Hill which is a small area with only Love Hotels. It is really funny because it is so flashy! To complete this crazy day, we continued to the Roppongi district which is also said to be a "Hot District". There is a crazy building in Roppongi : The Roppongi Hills built by a famous Japanese architect : Minoru Mori which took 17 years from the concept to the realisation... It is nice!
Finally to enjoy the night time we decided to head to the Tokyo Tower! 332.6 meters (8.6 taller than the Eiffel Tower) built in the '60 it is really inspired from the french one! It has a crazy view from it!
This day was also a very long day. The Jet Lag is slowly disappearing and tomorrow we should be alright with it. Tomorrow we decided to visit the Odaiba district which is near the sea.
After taking a real small breakfast we went to Shinjuku which has the most crowded Metro Station of the world : 3.7 million people everyday! HUGE! And it is! It's really easy to lose his way ^_^ Hopefully the Japanese are really helpful. At the train station there is always a lady giving us the directions and the price for the Subway which is really cool because everything is in Japanese and it's rare to find an English map with the directions and the price on it.
In Shinjuku station we bought our Shinkansen and Express train tickets for Kanazawa. We will leave Tokyo on Sunday at around 9am so we can assist the ceremony that will be placed specially for us in the language school. After visiting Shinjuku we visited the areas and the many shops around there. After that we went to Harajuku which is also another place with many CraZy people! Mainly young people wearing "costumes" for clothes. Again lot of noise but really nice. The streets were more like a European city than a Japanese one.
Harajuku done! We went to Shibuya which is also very very crowded like everywhere in Tokyo I think. Lot of shops and games places. There is also a Love Hotel Hill which is a small area with only Love Hotels. It is really funny because it is so flashy! To complete this crazy day, we continued to the Roppongi district which is also said to be a "Hot District". There is a crazy building in Roppongi : The Roppongi Hills built by a famous Japanese architect : Minoru Mori which took 17 years from the concept to the realisation... It is nice!
Finally to enjoy the night time we decided to head to the Tokyo Tower! 332.6 meters (8.6 taller than the Eiffel Tower) built in the '60 it is really inspired from the french one! It has a crazy view from it!
This day was also a very long day. The Jet Lag is slowly disappearing and tomorrow we should be alright with it. Tomorrow we decided to visit the Odaiba district which is near the sea.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
First day in Japan!
WoW! こんにちは JAPAN!
First of all, for the ones who didn't knew about that, we had the chance to fly with SWISS in Business due to lack of place in Economy. This was a great trip with excellent cabin crew! Good food, good game : TETRIS and nice view! Thanks again SWISS.
10 am (GMT+9), first steps of this one year Japanese trip beginning in Tokyo Narita Airport! As my two past experiences, I LOVE JAPAN! This country is not just different! It's a totally different world! Everything is different : Language, people, food, phones, dogs...!
After taking the Keisei Express from Narita Airport to Tokyo, we arrived at our nice and small Hostel : SAKURA Hotel in the Chiyoda district near the Jinbocho Metro station. It is small but perfect for two new Swiss Engineers! After changing some clothes because of the weather (Zurich : Cold and Cloudy / Tokyo : 17° Sunny) we decided to go for a Walk in the Electronic district : Akihabara (Yeah I know we are Geeks!) to try to find a Cell Phone for Jerôme with 3G Band. The iPhone works perfectly and with the some many WIFI Spots, I can rapidly check my mails, send WhatsApps or Pings and Call anyone with Fring (ArisM) or Skype (arismaroonian)!
Akihabara is soooo CraZy with GEEEEEEEEKS everywhere looking for new games, phones, computers and running from one shop to another! The noise there is crazy, so many people shouting things at you, sounds from TVs etc...! Anyway after a long time, we founded that getting a phone here is pretty hard! At least you need an Alien Card to buy a Prepaid Phone (Cheap Japanese model) or if you want a real crazy gadget Japanese phone you need to sign for a two-year contract! One last option is to get a contract with SIM Card (Rare in Japan, phones here don't have SIM Cards) to put it in the iPhone. I will look at the offers next week after getting my Alien Card in Kanazawa.
After all these electrical emotions we went to Ueno which is also CraZy! So many people walking everywhere but one nice thing : the Ueno-Koen (Park). It has a lot of almost blossomed Cherry trees! Very nice but we hadn't the courage to stay there longer due to our feets!
And so we are back from our first day in Tokyo! Very long day...!
Day 2 : Fish Market of Tsukiji at 5am if we can make it :D
First of all, for the ones who didn't knew about that, we had the chance to fly with SWISS in Business due to lack of place in Economy. This was a great trip with excellent cabin crew! Good food, good game : TETRIS and nice view! Thanks again SWISS.
10 am (GMT+9), first steps of this one year Japanese trip beginning in Tokyo Narita Airport! As my two past experiences, I LOVE JAPAN! This country is not just different! It's a totally different world! Everything is different : Language, people, food, phones, dogs...!
After taking the Keisei Express from Narita Airport to Tokyo, we arrived at our nice and small Hostel : SAKURA Hotel in the Chiyoda district near the Jinbocho Metro station. It is small but perfect for two new Swiss Engineers! After changing some clothes because of the weather (Zurich : Cold and Cloudy / Tokyo : 17° Sunny) we decided to go for a Walk in the Electronic district : Akihabara (Yeah I know we are Geeks!) to try to find a Cell Phone for Jerôme with 3G Band. The iPhone works perfectly and with the some many WIFI Spots, I can rapidly check my mails, send WhatsApps or Pings and Call anyone with Fring (ArisM) or Skype (arismaroonian)!
Akihabara is soooo CraZy with GEEEEEEEEKS everywhere looking for new games, phones, computers and running from one shop to another! The noise there is crazy, so many people shouting things at you, sounds from TVs etc...! Anyway after a long time, we founded that getting a phone here is pretty hard! At least you need an Alien Card to buy a Prepaid Phone (Cheap Japanese model) or if you want a real crazy gadget Japanese phone you need to sign for a two-year contract! One last option is to get a contract with SIM Card (Rare in Japan, phones here don't have SIM Cards) to put it in the iPhone. I will look at the offers next week after getting my Alien Card in Kanazawa.
After all these electrical emotions we went to Ueno which is also CraZy! So many people walking everywhere but one nice thing : the Ueno-Koen (Park). It has a lot of almost blossomed Cherry trees! Very nice but we hadn't the courage to stay there longer due to our feets!
And so we are back from our first day in Tokyo! Very long day...!
Day 2 : Fish Market of Tsukiji at 5am if we can make it :D
Thursday, February 11, 2010
New Blog Design
Here we are! The new Blog design is here...
If you have any suggestions or ideas, send me a mail or Skype me!
If you have any suggestions or ideas, send me a mail or Skype me!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
First Canon EOS 7D pictures
Here is a small selection of my first Canon EOS 7D pictures! Hope you enjoy them!
17 days before leaving!
Only 17 days! OMG! This is getting closer... I am a little stressed about leaving everything for a totally new world. I am also a lot excited about this experience even if I will miss my family, friends and all-day life...
There are also 9 days left before my diploma's presentation at EPFL. I finished preparing it last week and I am little bored these days. I don't feel I finally finished my Master just because my presentation is missing.
Lot of my friends already finished their presentations and I'd like to wish them all the best for the coming months and future jobs/life!
I finally received my new DSLR (Canon EOS 7D with Canon EF 24-70mm lens) and I am all excited about it! I will soon post my first pictures with it.
There are also 9 days left before my diploma's presentation at EPFL. I finished preparing it last week and I am little bored these days. I don't feel I finally finished my Master just because my presentation is missing.
Lot of my friends already finished their presentations and I'd like to wish them all the best for the coming months and future jobs/life!
I finally received my new DSLR (Canon EOS 7D with Canon EF 24-70mm lens) and I am all excited about it! I will soon post my first pictures with it.
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